The Search for the Lost Horcrux: a story of muggle wizard cooperation
by dittany74
Summary: This story takes place after Harry, Ron, and Hermione have recovered the locket from the Ministry. They are returning from a trip to Australia when the plane crashes.
1. Chapter 1

As you probably know, on Wednesday, September 22, 2004 (1); Oceanic flight 815 disappeared over the Pacific during a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. This event was widely reported in the muggle media. Despite the now recognized significance of the event, it was all but unnoticed by the wizarding community. During that period the Ministry of Magic had been taken over by Voldemort and his supporters. Reliable news was difficult to come by and attacks on muggles had become frequent.

It was not until many years later that numerous first hand accounts became available. Many young witches and wizards will be familiar with the documentary "Lost: Muggle Perceptions of Extraordinary Events." It depicts memories from several muggle participants in the event and shows the state of confusion through which those unfamiliar with magic may interpret occurrences outside their usual experiences. Although the struggles of Harry Potter and his ultimate triumph over Voldemort are widely documented, this is the first source to include genuine interviews and memories from his time on the island.

(1) Commonly believed to have been the year 1997, before subsequent shifts in time caused an altered sequence of events. This point is disputed by many historians, who claim muggle and wizarding dating systems had simply developed a variance over the centuries. Most texts avoid mentioning dates for this reason.


	2. Chapter 2

How the search for the horcruxes was delayed in an unanticipated, but not entirely unforseen (2)  
way.

Jack Shepherd was probably the first to have any awareness of the young wizards and witch. Although having no recollection of seeing the teenagers in the jungle, he did hear rustling and later wondered if he hadn't heard voices. Hermione Granger had been in the habit of using numerous charms to conceal their location from anyone in the surrounding area. It is unknown whether she had done so at this time as all three young people were disoriented by the crash of the plane. (3) It is known that frequently thereafter, Miss Granger, although taking some basic precaution, forgot to conceal the sounds of their small group. Many survivors reported experiencing a mysterious whispering when in the jungle and this can easily be attributed to the presence of the three young wizards.  
Shepherd regained consciousness after the crash of the plane and found himself lying in the jungle. A yellow lab rushed by on a mission of some urgency. He could not have been expected to recognize it as an animagus. Even Granger acknowledges that she was not at this time aware of the animal's significance.  
Jack made his way to the beach and remembers being surprised by the number of survivors from what should have been expected to be a fatal accident. He was unaware of the efforts of Hermione Granger, who managed to slow the fall of both her companions and a number of her fellow passengers. Nevertheless, this alone does not account for the number of survivors. One young witch, no matter how talented, would be unable to attend to forty-some people at one time, and there was also the tail-section, which was too far removed for her to have any effect on its descent. It is speculated that the healing properties of the island may have had some relationship to the good fortune of the survivors.  
Despite his surprise, Jack quickly made himself of service to his fellow survivors, attending to their needs and helping the injured, dazed, and pregnant. Meanwhile, a moral dilemma was taking place among the three young wizards. Harry Potter, inspired as he often was by brave and noble intentions, felt that they should go back and assist in any way possible. Hermione was of a more mixed opinion. While she could not help feeling for the unfortunate victims of the accident, she was much concerned by the cause of it, as yet undetected, and concerned for the welfare and safety of Harry, of whom she maintained a conviction, was the only one who could destroy the horcruxes. All three were convinced that the abrupt failure of a muggle contraption in which they happened to be riding, was too much for coincidence. It must be the work of death eaters. Miss Granger felt that in such an instant, the survivors might be most aided by them removing themselves from their proximity. Ronald Weasley may have been torn between the two arguments and the two arguers, if the following questions had not preoccupied his mind: 1. Where were the death eaters? 2. How did the death eaters know that they had been on the plane?  
When voiced aloud, the first question became the issue of prime importance to all parties. As for the second, however mysterious, what was done was done, and at that moment in any case, appeared un-preventable.(4) All though all were initially baffled by the apparent absence of death eaters, Hermione was the first to come to an alternate theory. "Perhaps trapping Harry here was as good as killing him. If he is unable to continue his search for the horcruxes, than Vol- "  
"Don't say it!"  
"Oh, for goodness sakes! Fine! What I mean to say is that You-Know-Who won't need to rush much about it if he's got Harry trapped here." As you may have guessed, the three young wizards had already learned that apparating off the island was not possible. Hermione had brought it to their attention as the plane began plummeting. In light of this unexpected development, some quick thinking had been required to see them safely to the ground. She was still troubled by the implications of it.  
"The island may be protected in a similar fashion to Hogwarts. There must be a certain boundary, that once we get around it, we will be able to apparate."  
Ron seemed troubled by this and ready to argue. Well familiarized with the grumpiness that could accompany prolonged possession of the horcrux, Hermione and Harry at once suggested that perhaps he should allow them a turn at carrying the locket. It was at that point that they realized it was no longer in their possession.

(2)The event was predicted by Richard Malkin, an Australian psychic.

(3)A machine used by muggles to enable the flight of both people and objects.

(4) Many muggle participants later became convinced that it would be possible to prevent the crash. Most muggles are unfamiliar with experiencing time in a non-linear fashion. It is widely acknowledged that events already experienced rarely change, even when the person experiencing them returns to an earlier point in time.


	3. Chapter 3

The survivors await rescue and try to hasten its arrival.

While the three wizards lurked in the jungle, discussing what to do, Jack tended to the injuries of the survivors to the best of his limited abilities. Although a trained medical professional, he lacked even the most basic of equipment and potions. There was not a single bottle of skel-grow, blood replenisher, or even any quik-well products available for their use. Such potions take even a qualified pharmaceutical potioner many days to make and many of the ingredients are too rare to expect to be found on the island. Mr. Shepherd had to make do with primitive and often ineffective techniques.  
His own injuries proved impossible to attend to on his own. Without any means of skin regeneration or blood replenishing, it became necessary to sew up any major tears by hand and the location of his injury made that impossible. He used his natural leadership abilities to coerce a young woman into doing it for him. This young woman was Kate Austen.  
While the two bonded over this experience, the other survivors attempted to attract help through the use of muggle technology, including a small device known as a cell phone. This device is widely used by muggles to transmit either the sound of the voice or a written message to another muggle who is some distance away. While enviable for its convenience, being more portable than flue network, quicker than owl, and requiring considerably less skill than apparating; cell phones require proximity to muggle radio towers to function. Although there are some instances of magically enhanced cell phones, not limited by such factors (5), and ghosts may make use of such devices, regardless of their state of functionality for the living; the survivors had only the ordinary muggle variety and had not yet made the acquaintance of any of the island's ghosts.  
Although many of the survivors still anticipated an immanent rescue, others were gathering wood for a bonfire to bolster their chances. Many occupied the early hours after the crash, searching for family members still missing. By night, the wait had become longer than anticipated and they began distributing food that had been salvaged from the plane.  
Jack voiced his apprehensions to Kate about the delay of the rescuers. Something was wrong. They should have been there by now. He suggested the advantages that finding the cockpit could have on their attempts at contacting the outside world.  
"I saw some smoke," Kate told him, before the discussion was disrupted by an clamorous and identifiable noise in the jungle. The trees moved mysteriously as if a T-rex was thrashing them.  
"Is that Vincent?" asked young Walt Lloyd, the sole child among this particular cluster of survivors. This very question indicates that Walt knew Vincent was a wizard. Ordinary labs could not be expected to move trees in such a fashion. Any half-competent wizard could, although the necessity for doing so is usually lacking.  
"That's not Vincent," his father, Michael, told him. Mr. Lloyd's ignorance about Vincent is easily explainable by the fact that he had been separated from Walt since the boy's infancy. It is believed that Mr. Lloyd was unaware that his son was a wizard. It was not, however, Vincent moving the trees.  
One might expect that their proximity in the jungle made this event all the more alarming for Harry Potter and his companions. They were not, however, close enough to see the cause of the disturbance.  
"Do you think it's a giant?" Ron Weasley asked.  
"It can't be a giant," Miss Granger told him, going on to explain the evolutionary forces that cause island species to be smaller than their mainland counterparts. This explanation excluded the possibility that there might have been a giant on the plane or that one may have traveled to the island by some other means more recently than a few thousand years ago.(6)

Back at the beach Jack was recalling the circumstances leading up to the crash. There was not much of note. A stewardess had broken rules to give him a few extra bottles of alcohol. In fact he still had one, which might be of use, although it certainly wasn't the first thing you'd choose to have in your pocket when stranded on a deserted island.  
A man had pushed past him rudely on his way to the bathroom. "Someone's in a hurry," the woman across the aisle had said. This had led to a brief but pleasant exchange. Her name was Rose and she was a nervous flyer. She was waiting for her husband to return from the bathroom. The plane hit a patch of turbulence and the pilot put the "fasten seat belts" sign on. "My husband tells me planes want to stay in the air," she had said.  
"Your husband is a wise man," he had said, promising to keep her company until her husband returned. The whole conversation seemed a bit ironic in light of what had happened.

In the jungle, Hermione ,likewise, was going over the flight in her head, trying to recall any oddities. She had flown before, with her parents, and everything had been going largely as expected. They had been in the air for several hours, been served plane foods and refreshments. It had been rather ordinary until they hit the turbulence, and even that she had not thought much of at the time.  
The turbulence had made some of the passengers uneasy, including Ron Weasley, who to begin with had not much liked the idea of being 1000s of feet above where a broom could be safely flown. "I thought you said these things were safe," he had grumbled.  
"They are," she had informed him. "Statistically more people are injured by splinching and broom failure than in plane crashes." It had never occurred to her that statistics would go against them. "Besides, You-Know-Who will be less likely to look for us on muggle transportation. He'll expect Harry to travel by broom."  
She was interrupted by a sudden drop in altitude. There were a few screams as passengers not strapped down, hit the ceiling. Hermione was the sort to admit when she'd been wrong. Obviously You-Know-Who had figured out where they were.  
Her first instinct had been to attempt side-along apparition and with a destination carefully selected and in mind she had taken the arms of both Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley. No noticeable change in their location had occurred. By then oxygen masking were falling from the ceiling, but as using them would limit necessary conversation, Granger used some bubble-head charms and another charm of questionable benefit, to augment their hearing.  
After a brief consultation, managed mostly in gestures, a location was decided on and Potter tried side-along apparition. Nothing happened. By then the plane was beginning to fall apart. "Accio broom!" Potter yelled, not that you could hear him. A small hand broom with a detachable dustpan nearly nailed Ron Weasley in the head. The fact that there were no flying charms on it did not make it particularly useful for the purpose Harry had had in mind.  
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry pointed his wand at a large carry-on bag. They grabbed the handles and the bag shot up out of the now disintegrating plant. "Protego!" Hermione shouted and closed her eyes as debris made its way speedily in the opposite direction. "Quick thinking, Harry." She used a levitation charm to slow their gently on the sand, the three tried again to apparate, but without success. "That's strong magic, Harry," Miss Granger said, "It can't be a coincidence. Somehow they knew we'd be here."  
"Yeah, but where are they?" Ron Weasley asked.

After the ruckus going on in the jungle, not of the survivors were able to sleep. They were still discussing what it could have been well after the sun had come up. Nevertheless, Jack, Kate, and Charlie Pace; a drug addicted musician, set off for the cockpit. They found it without difficulty, in the direction in which Kate had seen the smoke. Miraculously, the pilot was still alive. Unfortunately, due to an urgent need to revisit the plane's restroom, Charlie was unable to share in his last few moments of life.  
The pilot diligently inquired after the welfare of the other survivors and shared some important information with Jack and Kate. "Six hours in, our radio went out. We're a thousand miles off course. They're looking for us in the wrong place."  
Although Jack had established that the pilot had a concussion, muggles often survive this condition even without potions. No one present was aware that he had only moments left to live.(7)He and Jack spent the time trying to use the plane's transceiver, while Kate went to locate Charlie. It was around then that, whatever they had witnessed the previous night in the jungle, showed up.  
"What was that?" the pilot asked.  
"It's right outside."  
"What's right outside?"  
As of yet, the survivors were uncertain as to the answer to that question. Whatever it was yanked him out the window, leaving only splattered blood and gruesomely mangled remains.(8)The others ran, though if it really had been a T-rex they would have been safer in the cockpit. For a tense moment it seemed as if they had lost Charlie, but Jack came back for him as Mr. Pace later recounted for Kate: "We were dead. I was. Then Jack came back for me and he pulled me up. I don't know where he is?"  
"We have to go back for him," Austen told him.  
"Go back? There's a certain gargantuan quality about this thing," Charlie protested. That was the only real description that could be given, as no one had yet gotten a good look at the "monster".  
Upon retracing their steps, they found Jack, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, standing below a tree containing the pilot's mutilated body.  
It is unusual, considering the circumstances, that the three young wizards had neglected their usual precautions of concealing their location. Granger later explained that the stress of having lost a horcrux and the discouraging thought that they had fallen into some trap of the death eaters, had put them more into a mentality to fight than to hide.  
Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, knowing a fair amount about muggle planes, did not anticipate the number of survivor that they later found there to be. They were expecting attack by death eaters at any moment, but were not expecting to encounter muggles wandering in the jungle. The noise and commotion caused by the monster had caused as much alarm and mystification among their group as the others. They would not have been inclined to investigate and by coincidence had happened to be nearby when the pilot's body dropped into the tree.  
"How does something like that happen?" Charlie asked. Hermione had many theories on that account, but all of them were wrong.  
"There are 48 other survivors at the beach," Jack told the teens. "I'm sure we'll all be safer with the others and it will make it easier when they come for us."  
"And that's desirable?" Ron asked.  
"The rescuers, Ron!" Hermione reminded him. Mr. Weasley, like most young wizards, was unfamiliar with muggle emergency procedures.(9)

(5)Such practices are illegal. Legislation regarding the alteration of muggle artifacts is well documented in other sources.

(6)Due to the longevity of giants and the high mortality rate of infants raised among parents or other relatives, most researchers estimate that it would take at least 12,000 years to notice any appreciable size difference, with the more likely result being rapid extinction.

(7)Alessandra Trelawney-Bagshot later claimed to have made the following prophecy predicting his death: "On the day when the Dark Lord's enemy returns from the sky, from the southern continent will come for the final time, the wrong man, in the wrong place, to be killed by the rival evil ." No record of this prophecy was made, it was allegedly witnessed by her cousin, Cassandra Bagshot.

(8)Although in some respects resembling the attack of a giant, a giant would have been easily visible to bystanders. Later descriptions of this "monster" bear no resemblance to any known magical creature.

(9)The coordination of efforts between muggle authorities and those in the magical community for effective relief during emergency situations, has been a major argument by the Assocation of Muggle Studies in favor of increased educational standards in the field of muggle studies.


	4. Chapter 4

Miss Granger displays her many talents for the benefit of muggle and non-muggle.

Harry Potter and his companions followed the muggles for a ways, trying to decide how best to inform them that a very evil wizard might imminently be about to kill them. Ron thought that the direct approach would be best. Hermione felt that being raised by muggles, she and Harry would have a better understanding of their psychology and the problems with such an approach. Harry was inclined to agree, but felt his proximity could be nothing but a danger to all involved. Nevertheless, leaving was not an option until they located the horcrux.  
For this and other reasons, the three young wizards were not as anxious to be rescued as they presumed the other survivors were.(11) Hermione, in particular was concerned that muggle media could bring unwanted attention to the crash and that the hijacked Ministry of Magic might be monitoring such things with more attention than was their usual habit.(12)

"We have something we need to tell you," Hermione finally said, being won over by the arguments of her two companions. "I know this may be hard for you to believe, but there is someone very dangerous after us. It-"

"Yeah! No kidding!" Charlie interrupted. "We saw what it did to the pilot. Are you getting any signal on that?" he asked Jack who was messing with the transceiver.  
"No," Jack said.  
"Well, pardon me for appearing desperate, but you heard what the pilot said, before he was ripped to shreds by whatever it was that these kids have reminded us is out there."  
"Did you see it?" Kate asked.  
"It was right behind us, but no," Charlie said. Jack just shook his head and kept messing with the transceiver. Kate looked at the kids expectantly.  
"Er, no. We didn't actually see anything."  
"Here, let me have a look at that. I'm good with machines," Hermione suggested. Jack was not inclined to, but she took it before he could object. She pulled her wand so quickly and so subtly that even Ron hardly saw her. "Reparo!"  
She handed it back to Jack. "We're getting some sort of transmission," he said. Everyone moved closer to hear. "Let me adjust the frequency."  
"It's the rescue party. It has to be," Charlie said. "It's the French! I've never been so happy to hear French! The French are coming!"  
"Does anyone here speak French?"  
"17294532... 17294533..."  
"It's a woman. The same recording is repeating over and over again," said Hermione, "It must be on a loop. If that's how many times it's repeated, the message must have been playing for more than 16 years!"  
The others paused to do the math in their head. "What's she saying?" Charlie asked, "Doesn't anyone know French? We don't know how much longer the battery will last."  
"She's saying, 'I'm on the island alone now. The others are dead. They're all dead. It killed them. It killed them all.'" Hermione said.  
"Are you sure?" Harry asked.  
"Since when do you know French?" Ron asked.  
Hermione looked indignant. "I learned it before the Triwizard's tournament. I wanted to be able to speak with the Beauxbaton students in their own language."  
"Oh, did you learn Russian too, then?"  
"Ron! He's not Russian."  
"Look! We don't care how you know French or who's Russian or not," Charlie interrupted. "Who's dead? What killed them? Are you sure that's what she said?"

(11)Actually it is estimated that at least one out of every ten survivors did not want to leave the island.

(12)She was both right and wrong. The Ministry of Magic had become anti-muggle in those days. There was disdain for almost everything to do with muggles. Research and monitoring of muggle technologies and politics had sharply dropped off. Conspiracies to do with muggles "stealing" magic from wizards were rampant. Though the news held little interest for them, the following celebrities of muggle television were sought after: Galdalf the grey (wanted for conspiracy with muggles), Frodo Baggins (stealing a magical artifact rightfully belonging to a wizard), Saruman (arming of potentially dangerous beasts), and Eglantine Price (enchanting a muggle artifact).This last is acknowledged as a serious and as yet unresolved crime. Any wizard with information regarding the enchanted bedknob, articles of clothing, or suits of armor; are asked to come forward. Such objects could pose a serious risk to the safety of muggles and are no joking matter.


	5. Chapter 5

The plans of Hermione and Sayid, for the welfare of their fellow survivors, fall in conflict of one another.

It was determined that they should return to the beach and warn the other survivors. Hermione and Jack were both agreed that hiding and moving the group to a more secure location was a necessity. The only problem was that it was only 24 hours after the crash and no one was going to want to make things more difficult for the rescuers.  
"But you said that the pilot said we were off course, that they wouldn't know where to look for us," Hermione said, "If you radio for help you can tell them where we are."  
"But how do we do that?" Jack asked. "All we get is that same French woman over and over." The inhabitants of the beach had had their own dramas in their absence. "What's going on?" Jack asked. "Break it up!"  
"Tell them what you told me! Go on! Tell them that I crashed the plane!" Sayid, an Iraqi man, had been accused by one of their fellow passengers of being a terrorist.  
Michael hands a pair of handcuffs to Jack. "Look, my kid found these in the jungle."  
"And this guy was sitting in the back row the whole flight. Never got up. Had his hands under a blanket the whole time," Sawyer, the accuser, told him.  
It looked as if the fight was going to start again, but Kate interrupted it. "Stop! We found the transceiver but we can't seem to send a message out. Can anybody help?"  
"Yes, I might be able to," Sayid offered.  
"Perfect! Let's trust this guy," Sawyer grumbled.  
Before the subject of Voldemort could be broached, another disruption occurs.  
"Doctor, the man with the shrapnel... I think you should take a look at him," Rose said. Jack headed off immediately.  
"Alright," Hermione said nervously, "We'll tell them ourselves." Unfortunately the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight was already dispersing. "Listen, everyone! There's something very dangerous on this island! We have to move now and get into hiding!"  
A few people glanced at her with mild interest. Some grumbled and shook their heads.  
"And if we hide, how are the rescuers supposed to find us?" Sayid asked.  
Charlie came in on their side. "Look, you didn't see that thing. It ripped the pilot apart!" Kate shook her head at him and he lowered his voice.  
"Even so," Sayid said, "How will we be any safer in the jungle if there is something out there? The sooner we are off this island, the better."  
"We'd better go talk to Jack," Hermione whispered to Harry and Ron.  
Sayid was still looking at the transceiver and seemed puzzled. "Is it working?" Kate asked.  
"It seems to be. The battery is good. Except we aren't picking up any signal."  
"What do you mean? What are we picking up, then?" Kate asked.  
"I don't know, but there are no bars. Bars show the radio is getting reception. I'm not sure how this radio is functioning."(13) Kate shrugged. "Well, obviously it is. Why worry about the signal? Aren't we trying to send one?"  
"We could broadcast blind and hope that someone hears our distress call, but it would be a waste of battery, and we may not have that much. Besides, we can't send a signal. This other signal is blocking it."  
"What can we do about it?" Kate asked.  
"Hypothetically, if I can make a few antennas and mount them at different points around the island, I may be able to use the transceiver to triangulate the signal and find out where it's coming from."

Hermione and the boys approached Jack who was busy trying to figure out how to remove the shrapnel from his patient without the man bleeding to death or going into sepsis. "He's not going to give you the time of day until he's finished," Ron said to Hermione.  
"I know," Hermione said. "We have to find a way to distract him." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I've got some of Fred and George's products in my bag. Use them to get Jack out of the way. I've got some potions that could be useful for those sort of wounds."  
Moments later there were several small explosions, screams from the passengers, and Harry and Ron stumbled towards Jack bleeding and puking. "Hurry! Come quick! I think someone's been hit."  
Hermione moved in quickly and used some dittany on the injured man. He regained consciousness. "Where is She?" he asked. "Don't trust her. She's dangerous." He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket and thrust it at Hermione, before jumping to his feet. Hermione glanced at the paper. It was a photo of Kate and a police report.  
Jack turned and saw the marshal. "You shouldn't move," Jack called to him, looking alarmed.  
The marshal ignores him. "Where is she? Where are my handcuffs? Where's my gun. She's dangerous." Jack is close enough now to see the photo. "I want to talk to her," the marshal said.  
"Look, you need to keep quiet," Jack said, still trying to persuade him to sit down.  
"Listen, no matter what she does, how she makes you feel, don't trust her. She'd do anything to get away."  
"What'd she do?" Jack asked.  
"I want to talk to her alone. She got to you too, huh?"  
Hermione just watched the two of them, looking baffled. Harry and Ron had taken their antidotes and had tried to clean themselves up a little. "They'll have to do something about that aftertaste," Ron whispered to Harry.  
"Mr. Shepherd!" Hermione called out. "We really have to move now. It isn't safe."  
"What makes you think we'll be any safer in the jungle?" he asked, but he was not really paying attention to her. "What did she do?" he asked the marshal again.  
Kate saw them coming and moved away from Sayid, "Jack! Sayid says the transceiver is working even though he's not sure how. We're going to try to triangulate the signal so we can get a message out. That French woman's is blocking us." She saw the marshal. "I thought you said he..."  
"That was yesterday," Jack said, "I really don't think he should be walking around. I haven't even removed all the shrapnel."  
Kate looked at the marshal again. "Jack, I want to tell you what I did."  
"I don't want to know. It doesn't matter who we were or what we did before this crash. Three days ago we all died. We should all be able to start over."  
"Okay," Kate said.  
"Okay." They looked at the marshal, who seemed to be wavering.  
"Okay," he finally said.  
"She's part veela," Hermione whispered to the two boys, glancing again at the mugshot.  
Ron looked incredulous. "Does every pretty woman have to be part veela? She's just been through a trauma. Doesn't she deserve a second chance?"(14)

(13)Despite his claims of having been a military communications officer in the Reblican Guard during the Gulf war, Mr. Jarrah does not seem to have known as much about muggle electronics as Miss Granger, who being raised by a muggle family and achieving high marks in muggle studies, no doubt, knew a great deal about their use, including the subtleties of using a radio without the usual sort of reception. Muggle radios usually involve electromagnetic fields and electricity. This is different from wizarding radios which involve neither and simply use magic to transmit sound waves to multiple locations in a process bearing some similarities to apparition. It is worth noting that abnormalities in the electromagnetic field of the island and the presence of magic are both factors that could have interfered with the normal functioning of a muggle radio

(14)It should be noted that Hermione was correct. A view at Kate Austen's memories revealed that her ancestry had come in handy for everything from convincing men to marry her, sneak her into hospital rooms, and rob banks for her.


End file.
